Are you in a career funk? Here's what to do

career advice, career development

It's not uncommon to have phases at work where you find yout tasks difficult to complete or you even dread the thought of going to work at all. But when it starts to go on for prolonged periods, it's time to listen to your body both physically and mentally to work out what it's telling you. Is it a lack of sleep? Maybe it's the dark mornings or something in your personal life which is affecting you. Or it could be you're impacted by the role, perhaps not feeling challenged enough or you're ready for the step up. It’s time to take action and we’ll give you few tips on how.

It’s not all or nothing

If you feel like you’ve progressed as far as you can in your role, unable to get the salary you deserve or believe you’ve been in the same organisation for too long, you don't want tomake a decision straight away and jump into a new job without much consideration. Continue working at the same level of productivity you always have, speak to your manager about career progression and training, remember why you fell in love with the role and organisation originally – this can also help to increase your motivation if you're in a slump. This will give you time to consider what exactly you want from your role and where you can make changes. Whether it's a promotion, complete change of career or moving from permanent to contractual employment, don’t rush it a decision that can transform your work and personal life very quickly.

Be proactive

When your role becomes mundane and the Sunday dread of Monday becomes part of your weekly routine don’t ignore these red flags just because work isn’t unbearable and you’ve been there for so long it seems easier to stay. The lack of motivation and want to work is inevitably only going to snowball if you don’t resolve it. Now that you’ve not rushed into resigning and given yourself space to think about what you want to do; now it’s time to take action. Plan how you’re going to achieve your goals. This could range from volunteering, attending networking meet-ups to relocating and personal financial investment in attaining qualifications. It’s important to ensure your personal life is a factor in this as work life balance is an ongoing juggle for employees so don’t unconsciously put yours out of kilter by striving for a career that leaves you stressed and alone.

There’s never a perfect time

You know you’re not happy with your role and the way your career is heading but you’ll do something about it once the time is right. The time will never be right. It’s important to focus your energy on working out what you want in your career and planning how to achieve it rather than delaying your dreams and waiting for your life to be in a perfect position. It most probably never will be and that’s not a bad thing, its life. The right time will happen through your planning and actioning of achieving your career goals – you create it yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others either and measure yourself against what they achieved by your age and years you’ve been at work. Doing this can further delay you achieving your career goals and place you deeper into the funk as it may not your confidence and self-belief.